Dinner That's Ready When You Are

I often choose to make a pot roast when I want to serve beef for company.  Two reasons:  I don’t have to worry about precision timing for the right doneness for steak or tender roasts, and I don’t have to cater to differing doneness preferences in the group.  Cooking a tender pot roast might take a bit of time, however, you have serving time flexibility if any of your guests are running late or if you’re having a great time catching up and want to push dinner service a little later.

I also like the convenience of cooking the roast in the oven once the browning of the meat and cooking of the vegetables are done.  I don’t have to worry about constantly checking the stove to regulate the heat to keep it simmering at the right level. 

In honor of Valentine’s Day I added a bit of chocolate to the simmering liquid to pump up the rich flavor of the braising liquid. 

Smart Meals are flexible meals!

Herbed Tomato Pot Roast

Makes 8 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 (3 to 3 ½-pound) boneless beef chuck roast

1 medium onion, chopped

½ cup shredded carrots (about 2 carrots)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup red wine

3 stalks fresh thyme

1 stalk fresh rosemary

1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes in puree

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

2 bay leaves

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1.   Heat oil in large heavy pot over medium heat until hot.  Add roast and brown well on both sides.  Remove to large baking dish.

2.   Add onion, carrot and garlic to pan drippings.  Cook and stir until tender.  Add wine and simmer for 3 minutes.

3.   Tie the stalks of thyme and rosemary together with string.

4.   Add tomatoes, herb bundle, bay leaves, cocoa powder, salt and pepper.  Heat to a boil then reduce heat to low.  Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring to break up tomatoes.

5.   Pour tomato mixture over roast.  Cover baking dish tightly with foil. 

6.   Bake at 350°F for 2 hours.  Remove foil and bake 30 minutes more or until roast is tender.  Remove herb bundle and bay leaves.  Slice meat and serve with pan sauce.

Nutrition Information per serving: 394 calories, 13 g. total fat, 4 g. saturated fat, 151 mg. cholesterol, 460 mg. sodium, 9 g. carbohydrate, 2 g. dietary fiber, 4 g. sugar, 53 g. protein

Braising a Winter Winner

Brisket is one of my favorite go-to meals during the winter.  Braising the meat slowly not only tenderizes this cut of meat, but also adds delicious, mouthwatering aromas to the house.  With a few simple, but flavorful ingredients, you have an easy hearty meal perfect for family or entertaining.

This may not be a meal that is doable on a weeknight if you’re not home to assemble and put the dish in the oven during the afternoon, but the leftovers certainly make a welcome quick night meal.

If I’m serving this recipe when I’m entertaining, I time the brisket to come out of the oven at least an hour ahead.  This gives me time to slice the meat and thicken the cooking liquid for the gravy.  I simply arrange the sliced meat in the roasting pan, cover it with the prepared gravy and keep warm in the oven until serving time.  I usually round out the meal with egg noodles or mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.  Smart meals fill the house with delicious aromas and make for a satisfying dinner.

Balsamic Brisket with Onions

Makes 12 servings

1 (5 pound) beef brisket

2 large onions, halved and sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 ½ cups balsamic vinegar

½ cup ketchup

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1.    Heat oven to 325°F.  Spray a roasting pan with nonstick cooking spray. 

2.    Place brisket in pan and top with onions and garlic.

3. Mix balsamic vinegar, ketchup and brown sugar in a small bowl; pour over  

    brisket. 

4.   Cover pan tightly with foil.  Bake for 3 hours or until tender.

5.   Remove brisket to cutting board and let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

6.   Heat oil and flour in large saucepan over medium heat until mixture bubbles. 

7.  Add pan liquid with onions and cook over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Serve gravy with sliced meat.

Nutrition Information per serving: 409 calories, 14 g. total fat, 5 g. saturated fat, 168 mg. cholesterol, 239 mg. sodium, 8 g. carbohydrate, 1 g. dietary fiber, 5 g. sugar, 58 g. protein

One Pot Cooking

I love this recipe because it’s a complete meal in one pot with easy clean up.  I picked up many of the fresh ingredients at our local farmer’s market.  The butcher even sells the stew beef already cut into the perfect size cubes trimmed of all the fat! 

When I brown the beef, I make sure I don’t crowd the cubes in the pan to be sure they get nicely browned.  If there are too many cubes in the pan at one time the beef will steam rather than brown.  Covering the stew with a tight fitting lid while cooking over low heat keeps the moisture in and allows the mixture to cook without stirring.  However, the stew liquid may thin down a bit during this time.  So I uncover the stew for the last period of cooking to allow some of the liquid to evaporate and thicken up the stew. 

Don’t worry if you have leftovers….the flavor gets even better the next day!  Smart meals are great meals!

French Onion Beef Stew

Makes 8 servings

¼ cup all purpose flour

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

2 pounds beef round, cut into 1 ½-inch cubes

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 can (10 ½ ounces) condensed French onion soup

1 ½ cups dry red wine

1 pound small new potatoes, halved

6 carrots, peeled and diagonally sliced 1-inch thick

1 package (10 to 12 ounces) baby bella mushrooms, halved

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed

1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed

1.      Mix flour and pepper in resealable plastic bag.  Add beef cubes and seal bag.  Shake the bag to evenly coat the beef cubes with the seasoned flour.

2.      Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Brown the coated beef cubes in 2 batches in the hot oil. 

3.      Return all the beef cubes to pot with the soup, wine, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, garlic powder, thyme and rosemary, stirring to blend.  Heat to a boil.

4.      Reduce the heat to low and cover.  Cook for 1 hour.  Remove the cover and cook 15 minutes more or until beef and vegetables are tender and gravy thickens. 

Nutrition Information per serving: 341 calories, 10 g. total fat, 4 g. saturated fat, 77 mg. cholesterol, 491 mg. sodium, 17 g. carbohydrate, 3 g. dietary fiber, 4 g. sugar, 28 g. protein

It's Chili Time!

Chili is one of those dishes that is easy to pull together.  It’s classic one pot cooking which lends itself to easy prep and clean up.  Instead of using canned tomato sauce for my chili, I use jarred salsa.  It packs a lot of flavor in just one ingredient.  I still like to add some onion and green bell pepper for fresh flavor, color and texture. 

As for the meat, I usually use ground beef for chili for the rich meaty flavor from the browning step which you don’t get when using ground turkey.  However, I discovered a way to use lean ground turkey and still get a rich flavor by adding unsweetened cocoa along with the spices.  Adding chocolate is typical to some Mexican dishes like moles and I found it adds a nice layer of flavor to the chili when using ground turkey. 

Zesty Turkey Chili

Makes 4 servings

1 tablespoon oil

1 ½ pounds extra lean ground turkey

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoons ground cumin

4 cups salsa

½ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt or nonfat sour cream

¼ cup shredded reduced fat Cheddar cheese

1.      Heat oil in pot over medium heat.  Add turkey and cook until browned, stirring occasionally to break up meat.

2.      Add onion, pepper, garlic, chili powder, cocoa and cumin.  Cook and stir for 5 minutes.

3.      Add salsa.  Heat to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4.      Serve topped with yogurt and cheese.

Nutrition Information per serving (1 ½ c. chili, 2 tbsp. plain nonfat Greek yogurt, 1 tbsp. shredded reduced fat Cheddar cheese): 418 calories, 15 g. total fat, 6 g. saturated fat, 86 mg. cholesterol, 1225 mg. sodium, 26 g. carbohydrate, 3 g. dietary fiber, 11 g. sugar, 47 g. protein

Zesty Turkey Chili with Beans: add 1 (15 to16-ounce) can black beans, drained with the salsa.

The Flavors of Tuscany

Fresh rosemary was the inspiration for this recipe.  My daughter brought home several stalks of this fragrant herb grown in a coworker’s garden.  I was planning on meatloaf for dinner so decided to explore the flavors of Tuscany.  Rosemary is an herb commonly found in Tuscan cuisine, so I pulled in red wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic which are also typical of the cuisine of the region. 

I like to use fresh bread crumbs in my meatloaf.  Instead of buying a fresh loaf of crusty bread to make crumbs for this purpose I always make crumbs of leftover bakery bread to have on hand in the freezer for uses like this.  The meatloaf mixture comes together quickly and is ready for the oven in no time.

The star of the dish is the balsamic flavored mushrooms.   The earthy mushrooms soak up the sweet-tart flavor of the vinegar along with the garlic and rosemary to make the perfect complement to the meatloaf. Buon appetito!

Rosemary Meatloaf with Balsamic Mushroom Sauce

Makes 10 servings

½ cup red wine

¼ cup tomato paste

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 ½ cups fresh bread crumbs

1 medium onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced, divided

3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary, divided

½ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

2 ½ pounds ground meatloaf mix (beef, pork, veal)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

½ cup balsamic vinegar

1.      Mix wine, tomato paste, eggs in a large bowl.  Stir in bread crumbs, onion, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons rosemary and pepper.  Add meatloaf mix and thoroughly combine.

2.      Shape into a 10 x 4 x 2 1/2- inch loaf and place in a foil-lined and greased 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.

3.      Bake at 350°F. for 1 hour 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160°F.  Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

4.      Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.   Add mushrooms and remaining garlic and rosemary.  Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until mushrooms are tender.  Add vinegar and heat to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 3 minutes or until syrupy.  Spoon the mushroom mixture over the sliced meatloaf.

Nutrition Information per serving: 320 calories, 10 g. total fat, 3 g. saturated fat, 134 mg. cholesterol, 589 mg. sodium, 14 g. carbohydrate, 2 g. dietary fiber, 2 g. sugar, 34 g. protein

   

A Dinner Waiting to be Discovered

Before I go food shopping each week I take inventory of the refrigerator looking for perishable items I didn't use and leftovers.  This week I had a good amount of grilled pork tenderloin left from a weekend dinner and some broccoli and bok choy for which I had plans that never materialized.  So top priority was coming up with a recipe for these ingredients.  Doing a mad dash through my mental recipe box, I decided that these ingredients were destined for Far Eastern flair. Fortunately I had some Asian seasonings on hand to bring my idea to life. 

You can do this too!  Make a list of ingredients you have on hand in your refrigerator that need to be used.  Put them into your internet search engine (e.g. cooked chicken and broccoli recipes) and see what recipes come up.  You may be surprised at what delicious dinner could be waiting for you in your fridge with the added bonus of cleaning it out! 

Pork with Garlic-Ginger Broccoli and Bok Choy

Makes 4 servings

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons light agave nectar

1 tablespoon sweet cooking rice wine (Mirin)

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons oil

1 1/4 pounds broccoli crowns, cut into bite-size florets

3 baby bok choy, sliced

1 small onion, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2-inch piece gingerroot, peeled and minced

1 pound cooked pork tenderloin, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon hot chili sauce with garlic

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Mix rice vinegar, soy sauce, agave nectar and rice wine in small bowl.  Add cornstarch, stirring until blended. Set aside.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add broccoli, bok choy, onion, garlic and gingerroot.  Cook and stir for 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender-crisp.  Remove vegetable mixture from skillet.




3. Add remaining oil to skillet and heat over medium-high heat.  Add pork.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until hot.   
4. Stir vinegar mixture to re-blend cornstarch and stir into pork.  Cook for 2 minutes or until sauce thickens.  Return vegetable mixture to skillet with hot chile sauce with garlic and sesame oil.  Stir to blend and heat through.  Serve immediately.

Nutrition Information per serving: 350 calories, 9 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 83 mg cholesterol, 221 mg sodium, 33 g total carbohydrates, 6 g dietary fiber, 20 g sugar, 35 g protein